Welcome to the
hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked,
Sedaris’ message, alternately rendered in Fakespeare, Italian, Spanish, and pidgin
Greek, is the same: pay attention to me. He turns the current mania for
the memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his
life, his family, and his unique worldview, a sensibility at once
take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable.

Whether he’s taking to the road with a thieving quadriplegic, sorting out the
fancy from the extra-fancy in a bleak fruit-packing factory, or celebrating
Christmas in the company of a recently paroled prostitute, this collection of
personal essays creates a wickedly incisive portrait of an all too familiar world. It
takes Sedaris from his humiliating bout with obsessive behavior in “A Plague of
Tics” to the title story, where he is finally forced to face his naked self in
the mirrored sunglasses of a lunatic.

This remarkable journey into his own life follows a path of self-effacement and
a lifelong search for identity, leaving him both under suspicion and
overdressed. Through it all is Sedaris’ unmistakable voice, without a
doubt one of the freshest in American writing.

Quotes & Awards

“A satirical brazenness that holds up next to Twain and Nathaneal West.”

New Yorker

“Sedaris applies the same deadpan fastidiousness to his life that Charlie Chaplin applied to his shoe in The Gold Rush—this is splendid stuff.”

Kirkus Reviews

“David and Amy Sedaris romp through the former’s jocular essays of personal humiliation and quotidian folly. David, bestselling author of Barrel Fever, has a high-pitched, pimply, woebegone delivery, befitting the tone and subject matter of his reminiscences.”

AudioFile

A New York Times Bestseller

A USA Today Bestseller

Listener Opinions

by Jessica | 2/19/2014

" My second favorite David Sedaris book. He's endlessly funny! "

by Marijan | 2/17/2014

" Starts off surprisingly appealing, dry wit combined with the uncertainty on whether or not I'm reading a real autobiography or a fiction loosely based on personal life. As it goes on, you realize he is talking about himself and his dysfunctional family in a way that is both snide and exploitative...after a while I came to the conclusion that even though he writes decently, I am getting absolutely nothing out of reading the memoirs of a moderately talented guy writing a scathing expose on his moderately interesting family. So I gave up about 25% in... "

by Jeanne | 2/6/2014

" How could I go on a road trip without David Sedaris? This book on CD was so entertaining and heartfelt, the miles flew by. I feel like I know Sedaris after listening to him read the stories of growing up in his family. "

by Todd Martin | 2/4/2014

" Naked is a collection of stories by David Sedaris that center around his favorite themes .. family and growing up. More adult and substantial than some of his other books and occasionally quite funny. "

" I found these candid essays hilarious. Everything from a stolen gold plated mechanical pencil (that he didn't really steal) to making clocks out of jade had me laughing out loud. I'll always think twice about applesauce now. "

GalwayGirl | 1/25/2014

" Great read, love Sedaris. "

Chelsea | 1/22/2014

" This a a David Sedaris book. The humor is dark and twisted but it still makes you laugh. If you like David Sedaris you will like this book, if you don't then you won't. Enough said "

Lucy | 1/17/2014

" I love him, and I have now read everything he has written and seen him live, but for some reason I did not find this one as funny. I think it was more melancholic than funny. It could be that I had also heard at least one of the stories on NPR before, too. "

Sanjana Raj | 1/11/2014

" Probably the funniest book I've ever read. Any book that makes you laugh out loud so much is worth reading again and again. "

Cicely | 12/31/2013

" When one of Sedaris' books comes out, I buy it immediately! "

Helen | 12/24/2013

" amusing essays, not LOL. One on nudist camp visit rings true "

Melanie | 11/21/2013

" I could not put this book down. I also couldn't read it in public, as I would suddenly laugh at loud! Hilarious!! "

Frederick Bingham | 11/17/2013

" This book was recommended to Page by her friend Celia. It is a collection of humorous essays about various topics. The only one I could get remotely interested in was the one about his vacation in a nudist colony, the title piece. It was pretty good. The other essays were pointless. "

Brenda Greene | 9/21/2013

" Great work! David Sedaris captures the comedy and sometimes the tragedy of family and life itself. And he does it with style... "

Graham Oliver | 5/1/2013

" "Ashes" might be the best thing I've ever read. "

Scott Offenbaker | 3/30/2013

" The open honesty of Roger Waters with the substance of an angry teenager. If I reject them first, they can't hurt me. "

Candy Hamblin | 8/20/2012

" Not as funny as his first book...darker and a little more bitter. "

Shikole | 3/13/2012

" Not as good as I was expecting, but still very entertaining. "

Steven | 1/27/2012

" I was not as pleased with the first half of this book as I was with the first Sedaris book I read, Me Talk Pretty One Day. Being not so happy with those, I was a little fearful going into the sometimes 50 page stories presented in the second half of this book, but they proved to be the better ones. "

Kevin | 11/25/2011

" The essay about mother in laws is truly hilarious. "

Andrew Singletary | 9/19/2011

" very funny. Was familiar with Sedaris, but this was the first of his books that I have read. Definitely will read the others. "

Gloria Stone | 8/23/2011

" Funny, laugh out loud funny. But it carried on a bit too long for me. "

Trish Carman | 7/18/2011

" funny, and dark, classic Sedaris "

Cherry | 5/24/2011

" Cynical humor that leaves you to think. The author is a genius in revealing some of the darkest secrets in lives that most of us are never willing to admit. If you are looking for a light read with nonstop laughter, this is the book to read. Highly recommend!!!
"

Dustin | 5/24/2011

" Super funny. Sedaris has an interesting writing style that is at times very poignant, humorous, heartfelt, and expressive.
"

Kerri | 5/12/2011

" I'm not sure I even want to own up to having read this but it was another book club offering so I am inclined to give them a go. It was okay in some chapters but others were not my cup of tea at all (I just skipped over them) You won't be rolling around laughing I can assure you.
"

Janine | 5/9/2011

" This is my second time reading it. I forgot almost everything, so it's like reading it for the first time again. It's really good.
"

Chandler | 5/4/2011

" Not as good as Me Talk Pretty One Day but still filled with great laughs and off humor.
"

Erica | 5/1/2011

" Assigned to read this for American Nonfiction. Sedaris, what a humorist...
"

Shanon | 4/29/2011

" As always, I find Sedaris' essays laugh-out-loud funny.
"

Elle | 4/28/2011

" Love him, but not my favorite of his work. A little boring and depressing for me.
"

Sarah | 4/25/2011

" Love, love, love. Plague if tics is the single funniest story I have ever read. Ashes is perfect piece if writing. Easily Sedaris's best work to date.
"

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